How to Avoid Online Scam Jobs

Freelancing completely changed the labor market. Many people realize the advantages of this concept and leave their 9 to 5 corporate jobs for various freelance arrangements. Many of these novice freelancers are happy because they left the madness behind and they now enjoy more relaxing home jobs. Unfortunately, there are also people who deeply regret their decision, because they have fallen for some type of online scam. In this article we’ll teach you how to avoid such situations and find a decent home job.

Avoid realistic income possibilities

Pass on the job offers that are too good to be true. There’s no way a novice internet marketer can earn $5,000 a day, and any ad, website or a person that claims otherwise is obviously trying to scam you. Unfortunately, many people see internet websites as the books of the digital era, and books don’t lie, right? Well, they do and internet websites and ads lie even more. So don’t believe in everything that’s posted online.

View advertisements effectively

In order to view internet ads effectively you need to carefully read or listen to their message. Advertising shouldn’t be much different from the usual conversation. Marketers who overuse powerful sounding adjectives are either trying to scam you, or cover some flaws their products (or jobs in this case) have. Try not to be carried away by powerful words, sentences, or music, and analyze the way they are trying to present the job offer. If they’re being too ‘loud’ or graphic, avoid any business contact with these people.

Analyze company’s website

Start from the domain name. Check it on Domain Tools and find the owner. You can find them in public court records and try to determine whether this person had previously been charged for fraud. Scammers often need to face these types of charges, because hiring consumer fraud lawyers and filing civil lawsuits is often the only way for their victims to retrieve the lost funds.

Look up for the guarantees on company’s website and read them very carefully. Do the same with testimonials and check whether the photos of company’s clients look too professional. Companies often assign their fake testimonial personas with photos they’ve found on stock websites.

Do a background check on the company

There are several ways you can do a business background check. Start from Google – combine the company’s name with the terms like ‘scam’ or ‘fraud’ and review the search results. You should also check the company’s name at FTC. After that, carefully review their website and check whether it contains logos and marks that indicate endorsements from government agencies, because they don’t endorse scammers and pyramid schemes.

Avoid ‘start up fees’

Any job that requires you to pay a startup fee before doing any type of work is a pyramid scheme and it should be avoided at all costs. Home jobs are not much different from the ‘traditional’ ones and since you don’t need to pay the fee in order to work in a company office or in a factory production line, any request of this kind is a good enough reason for you to avoid the job proposal.

Some scammers who organize these get-rich-quick schemes are so daring that they’ll offer a money-back-guarantee to their victims. Of course, this is a lie and you definitely won’t get your money back.

If you want to find the best work-at-home opportunities, use established freelance marketplaces. Websites like Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer list thousands of freelance gigs per day. There you can find respected entrepreneurs who want to outsource certain parts of their business. If you show them you’re capable, agile and respectful, you’ll easily turn them into your steady clients.